A personal blog about my life, food, and fitness

I had quite a very busy weekend starting from Saturday afternoon till right now! Believe me, I didn’t even turn on my computer at all yesterday. Anyway, this will be a super long post with lots of pictures and not too many words, I promise.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

Chocolate Swirl Buns
After I finished my post, my bread machine beeping, indicating that my bread dough was done rising! It was risen beautifully high!!! I took it out, divided into 2.

half of the doughrolled the other half. I used 2 cutting boards cause they're not big enough by themselves..lolmocha essence diluted with a bit of water for brushing and chocolate sprinkle for the fillingbrushed the mocha essence and sprinkle the chocolate on toproll the dough lenghtwise, and cut using the dental floss for cleaner slice. you could use serrated knife dipped in water as well, but I prefer dental flossFirst batch- done with the egg wash brushed on the buns! Obviously they're way too big..haha..I'm such a sucker in craftmanshipBaked for about 350F for 15-20 minutes then 375F for another 10 minutes. Look not bad, right?Repeat the previous steps earlier and I got this second batch! Much better!!I guess these are for my friend...they're better looking and more evenly shaped than the first one!No need fancy packaging, right? It's the thought and effort that counts! 😀

I got inspired to make my chocolate bread buns from King Arthur Flour Cinnamon Buns. Since I am not a big fan of cinnamon and icing, I just borrowed their technique to make my bread look a little more interesting. It’s actually much easier to do than filling the buns with chocolate, as I did previously.

The Potluck Gathering
My husband and I arrived at my friend’s place quite on time. We helped a little bit to make the wontons. It was so much fun!
Some of our other friends arrive a bit late because of a bad accident on the freeway they were on. By the time they arrived, we were pretty much starving already. Tons of good food, who could resist to dig in??

our host made this delicous Singapore Style Stir Fried Rice Noodles. Yumm!Pan fried wonton or should I say potstickers?I think this is the only veggie dish we hadBaked chicken that I made...turned out pretty good actually. Cut them into smaller pieces so it'll be easier for people to eatHomemade meat loaf..it was pretty tasty! I'm planning to make a vegetarian version of this sometime 🙂Korean Beef BBQ...yummy! I tried not to have too much of these..prolly only 2 small pieces?Curry chicken with lots of bamboo shoots....was ok..but bamboo shoots aren't quite my favorite.Peking duck - didn't have any...too greasyWraps for the peking ducksStir fry rice noodleMung bean congee (rice porridge). Supposedly we have this after having so much greasy stuff..but I didn't have any. In fact I ate most of veggies and some of the boiled wontons (not pics on these)My first plate. I had another 2 plates, which mostly just more veggies and wontonsMy other friend made this refreshing virgin mojito - in the mix were strawberries, orange, lemons, mint leaves and a bit of Mountain DewNothing beats fresh strawberries! I think I had most of these.Some kind of dessert of grass jellies in coconut milk? I am not a big fan of coconut milk so I passed on this one.

We just hung out and chatted here and there but didn’t stay that late. Some of my friends with kids obviously couldn’t stay too late because the kids got tired like around 9:30 pm. After helping with clean ups, packed some of the left overs we left and the next gathering will be next month for the June birthday girl. We got home pretty late, around 10:30 pm. After shower and everything pretty much it was about 11 something.

After having a yummy bowl of oats for breakfast and 2 cups of hot tea, I started off with house cleaning! Usually I do that after lunchtime, but this time I felt I had to start it off right now or else I’d just procrastinate again. And we had tons of food in the fridge, some were from yesterday’s potluck, some were the baked chicken that I made for the potluck, so the only thing we had to cook was vegetables. No pics for lunch since mostly were just left over stuff..nothing interesting.

So finally, it was time to make my almond milk! I’ve soaked the almonds for about 24 hour already. I replaced the water twice yesterday because the water got a little cloudy and I didn’t want the almonds to get bad. Interesting how the almonds looked so plumped up after soaked for a day.beforeafter
Rinse the water off and put everything in the blender. Add about 7-8 cups of water for 1 cup of almonds. My blender capacity was only 5 cups so I had to divide them in half (sorta).nice and frothy

Use a fine strainer to prevent lumps in the almond milk.

Get the most out of it by pressing the ground almond with spoon.Done! I added 2 tsp of vanilla extract for nicer fragrant. I didn't add any sugar or sweetener as I like it this way. You can add it if you wantStore in fridge and try to finish them within a week. Before drinking it, shake the bottle as it gets settle

What to do with the almond waste? I dehydrate it by heating it in my convection oven for about 4-5 hours in 150F (my oven’s lowest temperature) with the oven door slightly ajar.

There I got my own almond flour! I was too lazy to strain some of the almond skins. I might add this into my whole wheat bread the next time I’m making it.
My husband was teasing me if we are that poor that we had to conserve this almond waste…LOL.
This step by step of making of homemade almond milk is from Novel Eats Simply Vegan.

After all these, we headed to my in-law’s place for a dinner. I haven’t gone there for about 2-3 weeks and I think it’s better I go this time. Otherwise I’ll give a bad vibe as a bad daughter-in-law.

Dinner food
My mother in-law made these amazing zhongzi (glutinous rice wrapped in leaves). I love these stuff but tried to go easy on those as it’s very calorie dense and full of fatty stuff (chinese sausage, pork fat, nuts, etc?)zhongzi-insidestir fry choy sum with meats - lots of pork meats....I just had the veggiesanother stir fry veggies - (ghong xing chai or Ong Choy or watercress veggies). Again..lots of meats and pretty oily too.green beans cooked with pork bell slices and chinese sausages. I only had the green beans...in moderationstir fry noodlespork bone soup with tomatoes and carrots.

Ok it’s getting really late and I had to cut this post. As of today, here are some pics. Just some simple stuff.fruit lunchoats cooked in my homemade almond milk...super creamy and could really taste the almond!dinnerafter dinner dessert - non fat plain yogurt with bloobs

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I earn a small commission if you purchased any products from the links on this blog. If you purchase Carb Nite® Solution or Carb Backloading from the links on this blog, my trainer, DebbyK will earn a small commission. It's my way to support her as she's been helping me with my fat loss and weight training journey. All information on this blog is for informational purposes only. I am not a doctor, a personal trainer nor a nutritionist. Please consult with your physician before you start any new workout program or diet plan.

No Responses

[…] whole wheat bread so I made one loaf today (with dried cranberries and almond waste from my homemade Almond milk) I won’t lie, I had one slice of my homemade whole wheat bread and it was delicious! Super […]

OMG, so much good stuff girl. I want to make bread so bad. It looks fun and easy. I need a breadmaker! I swear when I buy my condo at the end of the year, I’m going to have the most ridiculous kitchen with every kitchen gadget, lol – including a VitaMix so I can make almond milk too! Good work btw.

I love those thin stir fry noodles. They are sooo good. I could eat a whole box, no joke. All that food at the pot luck looks amazing. Peking duck is quite greasy for sure. I dont remember when was the last time I had it. I helped my dad make won tons once. He brought home all the supplies from the restaurant and he taught me how to put them together. It was kind of fun!

Oh ya, sticky rice…ahhhh love love love!! Sometimes I just pick out the fatty pork. But I love the mung beans and the peanuts that my mom puts in it.

Lastly, good work on getting your workout in. I’m in such a rut right now. I never feel like going to the gym anymore.